Advanced technology computer and communication systems have transformed many important aspects of human and computer interactions. This is apparent when considering how technology has forever changed electronic communications such as message transmission and retrieval. In the not too distant past, voice answering machines provided one particular way for a person to electronically capture a message and forward it to another. With technology advancements such as wireless and Internet systems however, electronic messaging systems have become much more sophisticated. These systems may include e-mail, voice mail, pager and cell phone technologies, for example, wherein almost an infinite supply of information may be sent and retrieved in a concurrent manner. Due to the content and volume of information available, and the ever increasing number of modalities for communicating such information, other systems have been developed to manage, direct and control message exchanges between parties and/or systems.
In some cases, methods from decision science and artificial intelligence, as well as other techniques have been employed to manage and direct electronic information transfers such as when and how to notify/alert a message recipient. As a general example, this may include considerations regarding the message recipient's location, what type of device (e.g. cell phone, pager, e-mail) the recipient has access to and when a particular message is transmitted. These and other considerations can enable intelligent systems to prioritize a plurality of messages directed at a particular message recipient, direct messages to a particular location and/or communication modality associated with the recipient, as well as consider whether the value of information contained within a message exceeds the cost of disrupting the recipient presently or in the future. For example, one particular message recipient may desire to receive emergency messages immediately at any time of the day, important business messages during working hours, and not receive some messages at all such as “Spam” e-mail or other unwanted solicitations. As can be expected, desires of message recipients regarding message notification and priorities can differ greatly from one recipient to another.
In order to provide these and other notification capabilities, intelligent systems generally consider and operate upon a large number of decision-making variables concerning multiple aspects of the message recipient's circumstances/desires when managing and directing message traffic to a particular recipient. These variables enable the intelligent system to determine and make decisions regarding a particular recipient's notification desires and distinguish the notification requirements from one recipient to another. In other words, each recipient has different priorities, desires and needs that influence decision-making processes and notifications flowing from the intelligent system. Consequently, in order to satisfy a variety of notification requirements applying to a plurality of different circumstances and recipients, many decision-making variables are provided to tailor notification requirements according to a particular user's needs.
Often, along with the large number of variables that influence these systems, there is a complex and/or competing relationship between the decision-making variables, however. For example, one variable or combination of variables may subtly or overtly influence decisions relating to other variables or combinations thereof. Since the number of variables involved in the decision-making process can be extensive and/or interrelated, it may be challenging for a user to personalize the decision-making process to meet specific requirements relating to that user's circumstances and desires. Thus, there is a need for a system and/or methodology to facilitate personalization and refinement capabilities of a notification system.